Almost 219 000 Bulgarians have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2009, Deputy Labour Minister Krasimir Popov said on October 19 during a discussion on job market reforms in the EU countries. Employers and unions fear that a further 100 000 jobs could be shed over the next 12 months.

The National Employment Agency has registered a further 80 000 job hunters who have been without work for more than a year. In the period between January and September, the average unemployment rate has soared to a 15-month peak to 8.03 per cent from 6.5 per cent.

Businesses and unions warn that the Bulgarian labour market will see the worst of the downturn in spring 2010 when joblessness will hit a double-digit figure. It will be fuelled by a prolonged slide in production and sales, which will force companies to axe more jobs.
The Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) forecasts that the unemployment rate could reach 12 per cent by March 2010.
Plamen Dimitrov, vice-president of CITUB, one of the major trade unions, forecast between 100 000 and 150 000 people will join the ranks of the unemployed by the autumn of 2010.

In a sign that there is more trouble brewing down the road for the Bulgarian job market, figures from the Bulgarian Construction Chamber (BCC), published on October 19, revealed that the sector will make 35 000 workers redundant by the end of the year.
Speaking to Dnevnik, BIA chairman Bozhidar Danev said that building industry woes will set off a perilous chain reaction in related sectors, which will lead to mass lay-offs in late 2009 and early 2010. The transport sector will suffer a heavy blow in the short term, he predicted.

The Labour and Social Policy Ministry will allocate more than 390 million leva under the human resources development operational programme in training aimed at helping workers cushion the effect of the crisis, Popov said.